Magnetic poetry-writer automaton

Today in London's Spitalfields Market, I was blown away by this wonderful little automaton, a tiny mechanical poet who writes graceful magnetic poetry when you spin a magnet beneath him. The proud maker -- who goes by Alefs in Wonderland -- let me shoot a little video of it (apologies for the crummy focus later in the shoot).

He was probably having a hard time getting it in focus because he wasn’t using a lens with a shallow depth of focus, evindenced by the crisp focus of the gentleman holding up the purple papers, bearded face.

Often people move in too close with video cams. Most cams can’t focus close enough to resolve a tiny object like this one – yer better off staying farther away and keeping it sharp. Or learn how to use macro. I shoot video for a living, I’m sorry, I see this all the time and it just bugs the living daylights out of me. Can’t people see that the darn thing is blurry?